


Practically Perfect in Every Way

by Erisden



Category: Mary Poppins (Movies), Mary Poppins - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Questions Ensue, Romantic Fluff, The 1950s But There’s No Homophobia Because I Said So, The Children Discover Mary Poppins Has A Girlfriend, This is Definitely A Children's Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 16:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17491412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erisden/pseuds/Erisden
Summary: It was no secret to John, Annabel, and Georgie that Mary Poppins flew in on a kite - as is her custom - and that she changed the ordinary into the extraordinary, and that she was a very magical woman indeed. But the children saw now that Mary Poppins was walking with a woman, down the sidewalk and toward their home, the seventeenth house on the Lane.





	Practically Perfect in Every Way

**Author's Note:**

> A little birdy requested I "pls write a short fic where mary has a gf" and naturally, I was more than willing to indulge.
> 
> I decided to emulate P.L. Travers' style of writing, as well as borrowing her narrator for a little bit. Knowing the kind of woman she was, she'd probably sue me. Sorry.
> 
> “What’s wonderful about Mary Poppins is that she takes you on a journey that allows you to experience joy and wonder, and she doesn’t take credit for it. She lets it be your experience, and she lets you go on that journey, and when you are healed by that, she doesn’t expect anything in return.” - MPR screenwriter David Magee on Mary Poppins.

If you ask any woman with a family what she values the most, she will always answer the same: that her spouse and her children be her pride and his joy, and that she will never trade them for all the world. And if you ask any woman with a family what she values the most about her family, she will always answer the same: that they, by fortune’s favour, shall always offer her a plentiful structure of which to be a part. And if you ask any woman with a family what she values most about that structure, she will always answer this: that they have their routines and their dynamics to which each sticks, for a family is as a family does, nothing more and nothing less.

But if you ask Mrs. Banks what she values the most, you surely won’t receive an answer, for it has been twelve months and twenty-seven days since she passed away. And if you, a curious being, choose to admire the structure of the Banks family, some twelve months and twenty-seven days since she passed away, you will see, incredibly, that each of the three Banks children has inherited one skill or another of their late mother, for the children have always had a special skill of adaptation important to any human’s survival.

And if you look closer still, early on this Wednesday morning, you’ll find that the Banks children have already awakened to help their father, George Banks, and their maid, Ellen, with their chores. And you might find that these three children, whose names are John, Annabel, and Georgie, have found a moment of relief from their kitchen duties with which they might look out the window at a very peculiar sight before them.

It was no secret to John, Annabel, and Georgie that Mary Poppins flew in on a kite - as is her custom - and that she changed the ordinary into the extraordinary, and that she was a very magical woman indeed. But the children saw now that Mary Poppins was walking with a woman, down the sidewalk and toward their home, the seventeenth house on the Lane. This woman had a beautifully dark complexion that seemed to twinkle in the sun, which life had not yet marred and weather had not yet worn, and looked at Mary Poppins that told the children without a word that her walking companion was a very important person in her life. Her pitch-dark hair fell in many segments down her shoulders, and she wore a modest dress: a soft blue jacket, as long as Mary Poppins’s, and heels that made her seem as though she were floating. She gave the impression that she could not be touched by any terrible being, and that only a woman like Mary Poppins could ever come near to her.

“Who is that woman with Mary Poppins?” Georgie asked, for he was the youngest of the three, and a curious youngster indeed, and always asked the questions everyone was thinking.

John, the oldest, answered: “I don’t know.”

Neither Ellen nor their father came to admonish them, so they took a moment longer to watch. Mary Poppins came down the walk, chattering with much enthusiasm to the woman next to her. Neither John, nor Annabel, nor Georgie heard a word she said from this side of the window, but they knew that what they were chatting about was of great excitement for the both of them. They had never seen Mary Poppins look so happy, and quite believed that she could never be so happy in her life anyways.

“She must be very important,” Annabel said. “Perhaps Mary Poppins knows a friend in London and has run into her.”

“Mary Poppins is friends with everyone!” Georgie declared, and John and Annabel giggled.

Mary Poppins and the woman stopped at the gate, where they bade each other farewell with a hug and a quick kiss.

The children had never seen such a sight.

“Mary Poppins kissed that woman!” John cried.

“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Annabel asked.

“I saw Father kiss Mother like that every morning when he left for work,” Georgie declared. This made the other two Banks children look at him as though he had said something very peculiar. Indeed, he had said something peculiar, for they had never heard of a woman marrying another woman - who would be called Father, if there was no father? Would they both be called Mother? Or would they need to be differentiated, as in: Mother One and Mother Two, or Mother Tall and Mother Short, or Mother Strict and Mother Gentle? And what if both mothers were tall or gentle?

Before the children could argue whether the woman was a friend or more, there came a slam, and the kitchen door swung on its hinges. Out came Ellen, a bowl of mixed dough under her arm, her apron covered in flour. “What are you three dawdling on about? Come and help me with this bread!”

By the time Mary Poppins stepped through the front door, the children were already off to the kitchen to help with the dishes, and certainly knew nothing of their quick glance out the window. She removed her coat and hung it delicately on the coat rack, and removed her hat to hang on top. “Good morning, Ellen,” she greeted.

“Morning, Mary Poppins,” Ellen replied, with a wide smile, for Mary Poppins mere presence filled her with an uncharacteristic joy, ever since she had stepped foot for the first time in Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, those many years ago. “How was your walk?”

“Very good, thank you,” Mary Poppins answered, as she pulled off her gloves. “I met an old friend along the way.”

“Did you now?” Ellen met her with a knowing glance. “And how was she?”

Mary Poppins, quite the catcher of secrets, eyed her sharply and raised her brow. “Very good, thank you,” she answered, and give her nothing more than that. She turned for the stairs without another word, a smile touching upon her lips.

* * *

 In the afternoon, Mary Poppins took them to the park, for she was a great believer in child’s play and fun. “You need your fresh air as well as anyone,” she said, when she proposed the idea. “And we must arrange it. It will do wonders for your health.”

And Mary Poppins was quite the bringer of wonders.

The park was empty as it usually was, but the grass shined green along the walks, the usual ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs posted every twenty feet along the sign. The groundskeeper stood at the side of a bench, his expression as stern as always. As they passed, they greeted him, and when he saw Mary Poppins, the children swore they saw his expression brighten. And, of course, when the children saw, they couldn’t believe their eyes, but they believed Mary Poppins was truly a bringer of miracles and the impossible, so when the groundskeeper looked upon them again with a disapproving frown, they only smiled cheerily - much to the confusion of the man - and went about their merry ways.

Along their way, halfway through the park, between two large, green hedges laden with leave, they came upon a bench. Upon that bench sat the same woman, in the same striking clothing, whom the children had spied beside Mary Poppins this very morning on Cherry Tree Lane. You could tell by the way her face lit like a light when she saw her that Mary Poppins was an incredibly important person in her life.

“It’s her,” Georgie whispered, which earned him a great dig of Annabel’s elbow into his ribs.

Mary Poppins looked neither surprised, nor shocked, as though she had expected this woman to be here all this time. “Good afternoon, Ruth,” greeted Mary Poppins proudly, as she did.

The woman stood, looking delighted. “Hello, Mary Poppins.”

Her voice was smooth, and glided across the air like sugared honey on a spoon, nearly the way Mary Poppins’s own voice often did. The children looked on in awe.

Well, the woman looked down to them and saw those awestruck faces, but her own expression did not twist into one of confusion. You see, she existed in quite the magical liminality, which she shared alongside Mary Poppins and all of her magical relatives, and she was very aware of the faculties of her voice, and, as it happened, she had seen many a child’s face gaze at her with the same measure of fascination. So, upon seeing the Banks children staring at her, she merely smiled back, in her lips and in her cheeks and in her dark, warm eyes.

“Why, hello,” greeted she. “You must be the children Mary Poppins has taken to caring for.”

“You know us?” asked John.

“She’s told me very much about you.” Her smiling eyes moved to Mary Poppins.

The fashionable woman now stood with a pleasant air about her, her back straight, her smile friendly and soft, her gaze absolutely filled with adoration. John, Annabel, and Georgie had a strong suspicion that this was the only person who could make her feel such a way.

“Children,” she said, “this is Ruth. She is a very dear acquaintance of mine.”

_“Acquaintance?”_ John muttered under his breath, just loud enough for the other two to hear, for they all knew that Mary Poppins and Ruth were not simply acquaintances. Such a strange way, these acquaintances acted!

But Annabel was suddenly seized by the undeniable urge to meet this woman who was so close to Mary Poppins, and she stepped forward, offering a hand for Ruth to shake. “It’s very nice to meet you, Ruth.”

They shook.

“This one is Annabel,” Mary Poppins introduced. “And these two are John and Georgie.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the two boys said.

“The pleasure is all mine,” said Ruth, in her gentle way.

Mary Poppins raised a hand to her lips, looking from Georgie to Annabel to John to Ruth, one after the other, the smile on her face never wavering. “We were just walking about the park.”

Georgie pondered for a moment. “Can she come with us?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t see why not.” Mary Poppins looked to Ruth expectantly.

Ruth offered them all a smile and stood from her seat. “I would be delighted,” she said. “Thank you.”

And off they went, the three Banks children bouncing at the front and the two graceful women gliding behind them and keeping watch. Many times, the children glanced back, just to check that Mary Poppins and Ruth were still following along behind them, and many times, they found the two women chattering quietly amongst themselves, side-by-side, holding hands. They were an interesting sight indeed, and passing park guests, seldom as they were, always stopped to admire this funny group. Of course, everyone recognised the Banks children, but if they had not known it, they would have very much assumed the two women were their parents.

“Do you see that?” Annabel murmured, coming closer to John and Georgie. “Mary Poppins and Ruth are holding hands.”

“I never thought Mary Poppins would hold hands with anybody,” John whispered.

“And everyone can see them!” Georgie breathed in wonder.

Naturally, the children were all very shocked at the display. Mary Poppins, by all means, was reserved. She kept her public display prim and proper, at all costs, which meant she would never allow any prying eyes to make a determination about her that she did not want to be made. It filled the three of them with warmth and fondness and certainty, and they went along the sidewalk with renewed vigor and smiles on their faces.

* * *

 That evening, after John and Annabel and Georgie had washed and dressed for bed, as they were, they would say, “inclined to do by ourselves, thank you very much,” they climbed into John’s bed, all nightgowns and curious eyes, and spoke in hushed whispers to each other about the day that they’d had.

“Mary Poppins certainly seemed very close to Ruth,” John said, with his legs pulled up to his chest and his chin rested on his knees.

“They must have known each other for a _very_ long time,” Annabel agreed, swinging at the edge of the bed. “She must be a special woman.”

“Just like Mary Poppins!” Georgie piped.

“Do you think,” John mused, “that Mary Poppins and Ruth are… well, you know.”

Annabel and Georgie looked at her for a long moment. If you were to peer into their minds, you could see the cogs turning as they thought. “Like Father and Mother?” Georgie finally asked, because he - unlike the other two children, who had been on this Earth for longer than he had and whose magic had begun to fade from their eyes - was very observant, and said things his siblings never would, more often than not.

John nodded, for that was precisely the answer he was looking for.

Annabel would have spoken, if not for the sudden sound of heels tapping through the hallway. In a moment, Mary Poppins arrived, already adorned in her flannel nightgown, her chin tilted up and her sharp eyes gliding across the room, scrutinising, until they came to rest on John, Annabel, and Georgie.

“All washed and into your nightgowns, I see.” She nodded approvingly, a smile curling at the edge of her lip as she shut the door behind her. “And all three of us on John’s bed. Do try to speak as loudly as possible while I’m here. It will still be bad manners, but at least then we’ll all be in on the secret.”

“Mary Poppins,” John said, hesitantly, because what they discussed was no secret, and he was the eldest of the three, and spoke first, “we were wondering… who Ruth is.”

“Is she like you?” Georgie blurted.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” answered Mary Poppins with a sniff, but the children could see her expression soften at the very mention of Ruth. _“Like_ me? You’ll have to make yourself clearer, Georgie, elsewise you may get an answer you’re not expecting.”

At that, Annabel spoke up. “Can Ruth do what you can do?” she said for Georgie, even though it wasn’t what he meant in the slightest. “Magic?”

Mary Poppins clicked across the room, her brow raised. “That is not what I meant by clearer, Annabel.”

“Is she your friend?” John asked.

“You see,” Mary Poppins said, nodding her head toward John. _“That_ is a clear question, Annabel and Georgie. You had better learn it. Yes, John, she is my friend. A very close friend.”

John, Annabel, and Georgie exchanged looks. And Georgie, who was so very inclined to speaking when the others did not, said what they were all thinking.

“Is that why you kissed her?”

At this, Mary Poppins paused and crossed her arms and tapped her fingers on her arms. She nodded to herself, and then turned around, looking to the three thoughtfully, as though she had known all along that they had watched her out the window this morning. “You must try to see for yourself the truth in the matter, Georgie. You question what you see because you don’t know what to think of it. There is a _perfectly_ simple explanation to everything in life. The things that are complicated are never worth spending time on.” She sniffed, then said, as though she had thought better of her words: “But if you must know the answer - yes, that is why.”

Annabel grinned widely. “Then Georgie was right. You kissed her like Father kissed Mother.”

“Precisely. And it is _not_ a matter you need drag on about. Now” - Mary Poppins waved her hand - “spit-spot into bed. You may ask me all the questions you like, but I want to see each of you underneath your covers first.”

Annabel and Georgie climbed off of John’s bed and returned to crawl beneath their own respective covers. Their minds were a blur, and if you peeked into them now, you would see that their cogs were spinning so quickly that they were in danger of breaking out of their places and flying right out of their little heads. Thoughts of Mary Poppins, with her delighted expression and her hand in Ruth’s, raced through their minds. The concept of love was not new to them, but the concept of Mary Poppins _with_ anyone _was._

“Mary Poppins?” Georgie murmured, as she tucked the covers around his shoulders and settled Gillie by his head. “If Ruth is a girl, and you’re a girl, then what would your children call you?”

“Well,” Mary Poppins replied, and stood, looking not a bit ruffled by the question, “I suppose they would call us Mary Poppins and Ruth, wouldn’t they?”

Annabel stirred in her bed, looking down her covers at the other side of the room, to Georgie and Mary Poppins. “But they couldn’t call you Mother and Father. Would they call you _both_ Mother?”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

Of course, neither Annabel nor John nor Georgie knew the correct answer to that question, and it was well within Mary Poppins’s abilities to somehow make them question what they had wondered before.

But John spoke, eventually. “Wouldn’t they get confused, with two mothers?”

“Of course they would.” And Mary Poppins clicked her way toward her part of the nursery. “A little confusion every now and again is good for a child, wouldn’t you say?” When she reached the doors, she turned, looking into the room again. “Now, would you like to ask me any more questions, before we slip off into our dreams?”

“You won’t leave us to have children with Ruth, will you?” Georgie asked.

Mary Poppins raised her nose. “Oh, certainly not. I am perfectly content with being your nanny, never you mind that.”

The children sighed in contentment, and settled into their beds. If Mary Poppins was perfectly content with being their nanny, then all was right with the world.

And Mary Poppins, as she drew the doors shut, gazed once more into the nursery at the children in their beds and smiled, for she saw how their minds danced with thoughts once unthought of and out of their reach, and was gratified with their happiness, for although the imagination of a child may fade, the lessons they learn by themselves never do.


End file.
